Makaya McCraven “In the moment” album

February 16, 2015

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After working with legends like Archie Shepp, Yusef Lateef and Bernie Worrell just to name a few and a well received album named “Split decision” that came out in 2012, the talented jazz drummer Makaya McCraven is back with another beautiful piece of work.

The concept here is nothing new but still pretty interesting. Him and his band recorded 48 hours of improvised performances over the course of 28 shows, took all that back to the lab to cut and remixed the best part to create the 19 tracks of “In the moment”. The result is gorgeous and shows the level of talent and synergy the Chicago drummer and his band have.

This is definitely a jazz album, and a damn good one! But McCraven can’t deny his strong hip hop background, he had the chance of supporting different rap crews like Wu-Tang, the Pharcyde and Digable Planets in the past. The influence is obvious on both tracks we played on our last Fresh Taste mix, “The jaunt” and “Butterscotch”, with steady beats and catchy grooves that are ready to sample material.